200. The Stooges | Fun House (1970)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Down on the Street
2. Loose
3. T.V. Eye
4. Dirt
5. 1970
6. Fun House
7. L.A. Blues

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Fun House is a ferocious album. The music is hard rock. The drums create a loud, repetitive and pulsating sound while the bass creates a meandering groove. The guitar wails away on top of it all, while Iggy Pop growls, screams, howls and coughs.

This is an amazing album—one of the best I've ever heard.  It's loud, aggressive and relentless and sounds great. (The problem with many proto-punk albums is the sound quality is poor. That's not the case here.)

The opening song is really intense and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Each subsequent song latches on the intensity of the previous one and never lets go. Listening to this album is quite an experience.

I'm quite surprised this album isn't more popular. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are known for their power. This album matches anything those three bands were doing at the time and takes it a step further. While those bands were always very conservative in their style and expression, this album is nothing but unbridled aggression and testosterone. I guess why they are considered proto-punk.

This album is definitely worth listening to and it's a must-have for serious collectors. It also certainly deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list. It's certainly an eye-opening preview of punk music.

All the songs are impressive. The ones I really liked are: Down on the Street, Loose, T.V. Eye, Dirt, 1970, Fun House and L. A. Blues. Yeah, that's right, that's all of them. 

★★★★★★★★★★

172. The Stooges | The Stooges (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. 1969
2. I Wanna Be Your Dog
3. We Will Fall
4. No Fun
5. Real Cool Time
6. Ann
7. Not Right
8. Little Doll

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The Stooges is a raw album. The music is rock, but it's stripped down and simpler. The production is quite straightforward; put four musicians in a studio, record them playing and then cut an album. There are heavy, rocking songs, but there are a couple that are slow and droning. There's some good guitar fuzz on Little Doll. 

This album is certainly more reminiscent of the Sonics or the Monks, than, say, Led Zeppelin or the Beatles, both musically and lyrically. Musically, the album has its moments, but the songs are uneven. We Will Fall is the main problem. It's nothing like the other songs, it's smack dab in the middle of the album and it's uninteresting. The lyrics are just downright awful.

Despite We Will Fall, this album is interesting an shows that the Stooges have potential and that rock is also moving in another direction—a direction much different than the direction prog rock is going. Of course, appreciation for this kind of music will have to wait another few years.

This album might be worth listening to, but it's certainly not essential. There's a lot to like about this album. There's some interesting things going on musically, but it doesn't excite me.

I Wanna Be Your Dog is the best song on the album. Other stand outs are: 1969, No Fun, Real Cool Time and Little Doll.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆